


Different Dad, Same Story

by haras_onom



Series: Sins of The Father [1]
Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Forever Evil (Comics), Nightwing (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Bad Parent, Canon Divergence - Red Hood and the Outlaws #25, Child Abuse, Dick Grayson is a Good Brother, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, I went crazy on the tags huh, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Jason Todd Deserves Better, Jason Todd Has Daddy Issues, Jason Todd Has Issues, Jason Todd Needs A Hug, Jason Todd Swears, Literally why did rhato 25 happen, Nightmares, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Post-Red Hood and the Outlaws #25, Red Hood and The Outlaws #25 - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-01-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:34:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22351150
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/haras_onom/pseuds/haras_onom
Summary: Jason Todd is still dealing with the aftermath of Bruce beating him and kicking him out of Gotham. Luckily, Dick Grayson (big brother extraordinaire) is there to help.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Bruce Wayne, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd, Dick Grayson & Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne, Jason Todd & Bruce Wayne
Series: Sins of The Father [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1609114
Comments: 26
Kudos: 649





	Different Dad, Same Story

**Author's Note:**

> Please heed the tags! This deals with Bruce's canonical beating of Jason in rhato 25.

Jason Todd didn’t generally answer his voicemails. Particularly if they were left by a member of his former family of righteous assholes. But this one managed to pierce through his armor of solitude and make him actually want to call back.

It was from Dick, a casual message stating that he could use Jason’s help on a case and to call him whenever. Jason could see right through the flimsy cover: Dick didn’t need help. He just missed his brother. Jason had gotten a handful of calls from Dick over the past few months, varying in topic but always similar in sentiment.

He ignored them, mostly because he didn’t really know what to do. It’s not like he could go back to Gotham, or work with Nightwing, or experience any of the benefits of his past life that he’d lost three months ago. Or rather, that had been ripped from him. _Screw Bruce_ , Jason thought bitterly.

In an act of defiance, Jason resolved to call Dick, despite Bruce’s looming threat hanging over his head. His finger hovered over the button for just a moment, weighing the consequences, but Jason was sick and tired of letting his fear rule his actions. Bruce be damned. Dick picked up on the second ring.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Goldie,” Jason said, trying to sound casual.

“Jay!” Dick’s voice brightened. “How’ve you been?”

“Pretty good. You know, I’m just pursuing my dream of living in an apartment where the heating only works half of the time and the paint is peeling off the walls.”

“Seriously?” Dick sounded concerned.

“What, I never told you about my great ambitions, Dickie?” Jason asked

“So are you working a case?” Dick had always had a talent with pushing past his little brother’s rambling.

“Something like that.”

“That why you haven’t been in Gotham?”

“Something like that.”

There was a beat of silence.

“Jason,” Dick said firmly. “Please tell me what’s going on.”

He sighed. “Bruce didn’t say anything?”

“He said you two got in an argument and —“

Jason whistled. “An _argument_? That’s what he’s calling it?”

“What would you call it?”

“A fucking disownment.”

More silence. “Where are you? Can I come over?”

“Uh,” Jason said smartly. “Why?”

“So we can talk, Jay,” Dick said like it was obvious. Which it was, to anyone but Jason Peter Todd.

“I’m in New York City,” Jason said eventually. “I’ll text you my address and set out some hors d'oeuvres.”

“You treat me so well,” Dick laughed. “I’ll be there in a few hours.”

Dick got to the apartment in record time, knocking on the door at a modest 1:30 in the morning. Jason let him in with a friendly grunt.

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about the hors d'oeuvres,” Dick said, laughing when he saw the cheese platter on Jason’s coffee table.

“I’d never,” Jason said dramatically. “Alfred raised me well.”

“You also weren’t kidding about the apartment, yeesh.”

Jason had no comment on that, he just gave a sheepish shrug.

“Do you want a beer?” he offered.

“Are you even legal?” Dick said coyly.

“You know damn well that I am,” Jason said as he grabbed two beers out of his fridge.

Dick laughed and accepted the beer that was handed to him. He made his way over to the cheese platter and Jason followed awkwardly, wondering why he had agreed to this.

“So,” Dick said.

“So.”

“What happened between you and Bruce?” Dick leaned back against the couch’s armrest, comfortably positioning himself so that he was facing the younger man.

Jason put a piece of cheese in his mouth and chewed it contemplatively. He kept his eyes straight ahead as he asked: “Do you remember the night I shot the Penguin?”

“Of course.”

Jason took a deep breath, determined to get through the facts in one go.

“Well, Bruce lost his shit. He was fucking furious; he beat the shit out of me and told me to get out of his city. And to never work with any of you again.”

Dick blinked once, then twice, then contorted his face into something nasty, angry.

“That bastard,” he said. “He hit you? Jay, he hit you?”

“A couple of times, yeah,” Jason said quietly.

Dick sat up and scooted closer to Jason.

“I didn’t know. I’m so sorry I didn’t know sooner and I’m going to give Bruce hell for this,” Dick said with a fire.

“S’okay,” Jason mumbled. “Nothing you can do about it now.”

“I’m going to make him sorry,” Dick vowed.

“Well, good luck with that,” Jason said bitterly, taking a swig of his drink. He’d yet to make eye contact with Dick this entire conversation.

“I honestly can’t believe that you’re taking this lying down.”

At this, Jason snapped his face around to look at his brother. “What the fuck would you have me do?”

“Ask me for help weeks ago,” Dick muttered, not rising to meet Jason’s temper. “Sorry, I guess that that was kind of a shitty thing to say, but I am surprised.”

Jason ran a hand through his hair and curled into himself.

“I don’t know why I didn’t fight back. He just _whaled_ on me and all I could do was stand there like an idiot. It was… it was,” Jason said the next part quietly. “All I could think about was Willis.”

“Oh, Jason.” Dick frowned deeply. “Can I give you a hug?”

Jason nodded minutely, and the next thing he knew, he was enveloped in a standard Dick Grayson Hug. He closed his eyes and tried to remember the last time he didn’t feel like complete and utter shit.

“Bruce was wrong to hurt you, especially knowing your past,” Dick’s voice was soft, but strengthened with conviction. “I am so sorry that you’ve been alone all this time with that. But you aren’t anymore.”

“Okay,” Jason said shakily. He hoped to God that he wasn’t crying. “I missed you,” he admitted. “I miss being part of a team.” _A family_.

“I’ve got you,” Dick promised.

Jason found that he believed him. 

“Take off the helmet.”

Jason scrunched his eyebrows together at the odd request. Demand, really. Batman had said it with such a growl in his voice that Jason was almost inclined to do as he was told. Almost.

“Why?” he asked. This was not how he imagined the aftermath of shooting the penguin. Bruce was clearly very angry, almost shaking with restraint, so why ask for something so trivial?

“I want to see your face.”

Jason suspected there was another factor at play here, but he figured it would be best to play along for now. He took the helmet off. In Jason’s various imagined aftermaths, he never anticipated what actually came to be. The thought was so ludicrous that he wasn’t watching Bruce’s hands carefully enough. He didn’t think he needed to.

The punch landed right below Jason’s cheekbone, the force of it causing the young man to stumble back. For a second, all he could do was sputter. Because Bruce had _never_ hit him like that before. Not when he stole tires or yelled at Dick or cursed in front of polite company. Not even after he’d come back, when he was hyped up on the lazarus pit and a need for vengeance.

“Bruce,” Jason barked out, “What the,”

The older man didn’t let him finish his sentence. The next thing he knew, Jason was on the ground, doing his best to cover his face from the onslaught of hits. His breaths began coming out shorter and shorter and shorter until —

Jason shot up in bed. He’d been dreaming, Bruce’s punches nothing more than phantom hits on his skin. His breathing, however, was still very much an issue. He gasped for air but he couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe, _he couldn’t breathe_. Dick heard the commotion from the couch and came running into Jason’s room. The panicked young man momentarily wondered what Dick was doing in his apartment, but then he remembered the night before.

“Jason,” Dick said softly, taking a seat next to him. “It’s okay, you’re safe and I’m here.”

Dick repeated this mantra and tried to lead Jason through some breathing exercises, which ultimately calmed him down enough to get a few words out.

“I - I’m sorry,” Jason said, stuttering on his apology three times before saying it fully.

“It’s okay,” Dick assured him, “Don’t try to talk. I’ll get you some water.”

Jason hated to see him leave, which filled him with a sense of shame at acting like such a child. He was the Red Hood, and he was hyperventilating over a bad dream while being waited on by his older brother. How embarrassing.

“I’m back,” Dick said unnecessarily. He tried to bring the glass to Jason’s lips, but the younger man shook his head.

“I don’t n-need your help, Dickweed.”

Dick didn’t look convinced.

Jason took it upon himself to try and grab the water, but once he saw how shaky his hands were, he acquiesced. Once the water was mostly empty, Dick put it on the nightstand and Jason took his cue to curl in on himself. He brought his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. Dick was struck with how much he still looked like the little boy Dick had met all those years ago, even now.

“Sorry,” Jason said again. “I thought I had those under control.”

“You don’t need to apologize. Do you want to talk about it?”

Jason fell silent for a while. “I think us talking last night triggered it.”

“Oh,” Dick said. “So you had… a flashback?”

“Kinda. Honestly, I can’t tell which parts are real and which parts I’ve made up anymore.”

“Wanna talk me through it?”

“It’s just Bruce,” Jason mumbled. He hated the way he said it. _Just Bruce_.

“What did he say?”

“He didn’t say much this time around,” Jason said. “Mostly beat me senseless.”

Dick was solemn. “Has he ever hit you before? Like he did then?”

“No,” Jason said. “Never. You?”

“Has he hit me?” Dick asked, sounding incredulous. Like he was surprised Jason would even ask.

“Yeah,” Jason said. “But I guess he hasn’t. So it was just me. Exclusive club.”

“Well,” Dick started. Jason looked up at him. “I mean, he’s used excessive force before. Like,” Dick hesitated, “Like after the Crime Syndicate. When he wanted me to go undercover with Spyral. We were technically sparring, but it got nasty. And, honestly, I wasn’t in the right headspace to be fighting. Or to be asked to isolate myself from you guys to work a case. And I feel like he knew that. That I’d eventually say yes to whatever he asked.”

Dick said the last part very quietly.

“I’m sorry that he did that to you.”

“It’s fine,” Dick waved him off, “It doesn’t really compare to what he did to you, now does it?”

“It’s not a competition.”

“I know.”

The two sat together in silence for several minutes.

“Thank you,” Jason said. “For calling, for coming, for everything.”

“Of course,” Dick said. “Next up on my to-do list is to make sure Bruce faces the consequences.”

“What, make him do sixty hours of community service?” Jason joked.

“I’m serious, Jay. I’m gonna — Is it alright if I tell the others? Alfred, Tim, Babs, you know.”

“I guess.”

“You can say no.”

“I’m saying yes,” Jason said. “It’s a, uh, team concern. Try to let me retain at least some of my bad boy image though, please.”

“That’s been gone for ages.”

“Has not.”

“Has to,” Dick smiled. “Ever since I saw you help that cat out of a tree.”

“Its owner was worried!” Jason defended himself, “I thought she was gonna have a heart attack right then and there unless I did something.”

“Gotham City’s finest,” Dick said, hand over his heart, swooning dramatically.

“Whatever.”

Dick laughed, Jason smirked.

“Do you want me to stay?” Dick asked.

“I don’t think I can go back to sleep,” Jason said. “Want to watch something on TV?”

“Cooking channel?” Dick asked excitedly, already partway to the door.

“You know me so well.”


End file.
